LAHOREPakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) has decided to challenge what it called the unconstitutional Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), unconstitutional appointment of provincial election commissioners and a toothless Chief Election Commissioner in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. For this purpose a committee has been set up to appoint a panel of
By our correspondents
August 20, 2015
LAHORE Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) has decided to challenge what it called the unconstitutional Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), unconstitutional appointment of provincial election commissioners and a toothless Chief Election Commissioner in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. For this purpose a committee has been set up to appoint a panel of lawyers headed by PAT secretary-general Khurram Nawaz Gandapur. Talking to PAT lawyers on Wednesday, Gandapur said PAT chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri started a long march against the unconstitutional appointments of provincial election commissioners and had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court in this regard, but the than Chief Justice Iftikhar Ch had rejected the petition with even a single hearing. Gandapur said the appointment of provincial election commissioners was done according to the wishes of the provincial government and not according to the Constitution. He said provincial ECs act according to the desires of provincial rulers. He said if the appointment of these ECs is according to the Constitution then the government must come up with the record of their appointments. He said these ECs are representatives of the provincial rulers and are not under the command of Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan. He said rather these ECs control the CEC as even the transfer or posting of a helper cannot be done with the signature of the CEC and this can only be done with the signs of provincial election commissioners. He said the CEC is helpless and has become a puppet whose strings are controlled by the provincial election commissioners.
